From Ballotpedia This article summarizes bond issues and tax measures that were on the ballot in even years from 2008 to 2022 and odd years from 2009 to 2021.
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A bond issue is a measure placed on the ballot by the state government or a local unit of government (city, county, school district) that asks voters to approve or deny the issuance of bonds. A bond is a debt in which the issuer owes the holders a debt and is obligated to repay the principal and interest at a later date.
The tax measures in this study include tax increases, decreases, exemptions, deductions, renewals, repeals, and more, regarding a variety of tax types and categories.
In even years from 2008 to 2022, 110 bond issues totaling $102 billion were on the ballot.
Below is a summary of the bond and tax issues that appeared on the 2022 statewide ballots:
| Bonds in 2022 | |
| Total bond measures: | 8 |
| Approved: | 8 |
| Defeated: | 0 |
The following are statistics of bond issues that were on the ballot in 2022.
The following chart shows the total amount of potential authorized bonds that were on the ballot in 2022 and how much money was approved.
The eight bond measures came from four states: one bond measure in Alabama (totaling $85 million), three bond measures in Rhode Island (totaling $400 million), three bond measures in New Mexico (totaling $260 million), and one bond measure in New York (totaling $4.20 billion). All ballot measures were approved, totaling $4.94 billion in new debt. The largest bond measure approved in 2022 was New York Proposal 1, which approved $4.20 billion in bonds for projects related to the environment, natural resources, water infrastructure, and climate change mitigation.
| Total amount on 2022 ballot | Approved total amount | Defeated total amount |
|---|---|---|
| $4,944,722,000 | $4,944,722,000 | $0 |
Following are summaries of the bond issues on the ballot in 2022:
| Type | Title | Subject | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LRCA | Alabama Amendment 1 | Bonds | Issues $85 million in bonds for historical sites and state parks | |
| BI | Rhode Island Question 1 | Bonds | Issues $100 million in bonds for the University of Rhode Island Narragansett Bay Campus marine discipline educational and research needs | |
| BI | Rhode Island Question 2 | Bonds | Issues $250 million in bonds for construction and renovation of state public school buildings | |
| BI | Rhode Island Question 3 | Bonds | Issues $50 million in bonds for environmental and recreational purposes | |
| BI | New Mexico Bond Question 1 | Bonds | Issues $24.47 million in bonds for senior citizen facility improvements | |
| BI | New Mexico Bond Question 2 | Bonds | Issues $19.27 million in bonds for public libraries | |
| BI | New Mexico Bond Question 3 | Bonds | Issues $215.99 million in bonds for public higher education institutions, special public schools, and tribal schools | |
| BI | New York Proposal 1 | Bonds | Issues $4.20 billion in bonds for projects related to the environment, natural resources, water infrastructure, and climate change mitigation |
Voters in nine states voted on 19 ballot measures addressing tax-related policies. Twelve of the measures were approved and seven were defeated.
In addition to the binding ballot measures, there were three advisory vote questions on the ballot in Washington and in Idaho that asked voters whether the legislature should maintain or repeal tax bills they had passed in the 2022 legislative session. Both measures in Washington were defeated, and the measure in Idaho was approved.
| Type | Title | Subject | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LRCA | Arizona Proposition 130 | Taxes | Allows the Legislature to set certain property tax exemption amounts and qualifications | |
| LRSS | Arizona Proposition 310 | Taxes | Creates a 0.1% sales tax for 20 years to fund fire districts | |
| CISS | California Proposition 30 | Taxes | Creates a 1.75% tax on personal income above $2 million and allocate revenue for zero-emissions vehicle and wildfire programs | |
| LRCA | Colorado Amendment E | Taxes | Extends an existing homestead exemption for disabled veterans to the surviving spouses of military personnel and certain veterans | |
| CISS | Colorado Proposition 121 | Taxes | Reduces the state income tax rate from 4.55% to 4.40% | |
| LRSS | Colorado Proposition FF | Taxes | Reduces income tax deduction caps and allocate increased revenue to a program for free school meals and local school food grants | |
| LRCA | Florida Amendment 1 | Taxes | Authorizes the Legislature to prohibit flood resistance improvements from being taken into consideration when determining a property's assessed value for tax purposes | |
| LRCA | Florida Amendment 3 | Taxes | Authorizes the Legislature to provide an additional homestead property tax exemption for certain public service workers | |
| LRCA | Georgia Amendment 2 | Taxes | Authorizes local governments to grant tax relief to properties that are damaged due to a disaster and located within a declared disaster area | |
| LRSS | Georgia Referendum A | Taxes | Exempts timber equipment owned by a timber producer from property taxes | |
| LRSS | Georgia Referendum B | Taxes | Expands agricultural equipment tax exemption and produce to include those owned by merged family farms | |
| AQ | Idaho Advisory Ballot | Taxes | Advises the Legislature on a bill to enact a flat income and corporate tax structure, send tax rebates to qualifying taxpayers, and dedicate an annual $400 million to education | |
| LRCA | Louisiana Amendment 2 | Taxes | Expands property tax exemptions for disabled veterans with a service-related disability | |
| LRCA | Louisiana Amendment 5 | Taxes | Provides that property tax rates can be increased by a two-thirds vote of a taxing authority up to the maximum rate allowed by the constitution | |
| LRCA | Louisiana Amendment 6 | Taxes | Limits the increase in the assessed value of residential property in Orleans Parish to 10% of the property's assessed value | |
| LRCA | Louisiana Amendment 8 | Taxes | Removes the annual income recertification requirement to receive special assessment property tax rates for homeowners that are permanently and totally disabled | |
| LRCA | Massachusetts Question 1 | Taxes | Creates a 4% tax on income above $1 million and allocate revenue for education and transportation purposes | |
| LRCA | Texas Proposition 1 | Taxes | Authorizes the Legislature to reduce the school tax limits for senior and disabled residents to reflect reductions passed as statute from the preceding tax year | |
| LRCA | Texas Proposition 2 | Taxes | Increases the homestead exemption for school district taxes from $25,000 to $40,000 | |
| AQ | Washington Advisory Vote 39 | Taxes | Advises the Legislature to either maintain or repeal a tax increase on aircraft fuel from 11 cents to 18 cents per gallon | |
| AQ | Washington Advisory Vote 40 | Taxes | Advises the Legislature to either maintain or repeal a tax on transportation network companies | |
| LRCA | West Virginia Amendment 2 | Taxes | Authorizes the Legislature to exempt personal property used for business activity from property taxes |
| Bonds in 2020 | |
| Total bond measures: | 7 |
| Approved: | 6 |
| Defeated: | 1 |
The following are statistics of bond issues that were on the ballot in 2020.
The following chart shows the total amount of potential authorized bonds that were on the ballot in 2020 and how much money was approved versus how much was defeated.
The seven bond issues came from three states: California, Maine, and New Mexico. Two bond issues were on the ballot in California: Proposition 13 to authorize $15 billion in bonds for school and college facilities was defeated and Proposition 14 to authorize $5.5 billion in bonds for stem cell research was approved. Two bond issues in Maine (totaling $120 million) and three bond issues in New Mexico (totaling $199 million) were approved. The bond issues proposed a total of $20.82 billion in new debt.[1] All of the bond issues were referred to the ballot by the state legislatures except for California Proposition 14.
| Total amount on 2020 ballot | Approved total amount | Defeated total amount |
|---|---|---|
| $20,819,300,000 | $5,819,300,000 | $15,000,000,000 |
Voters in 14 states voted on 21 ballot measures addressing tax-related policies. Seventeen of the measures were approved and four were defeated.
In addition to the binding ballot measures, there were four nonbinding advisory vote questions on the ballot in Washington that asked voters whether the legislature should maintain or repeal tax bills they had passed in the 2020 legislative session. Voters voted in favor of advising the legislature to repeal all four of the bills.
Highlights:
| Bonds in 2018 | |
| Total bond measures: | 18 |
| Approved: | 15 |
| Defeated: | 3 |
The following are statistics of bond issues that were on the ballot in 2018. Only ballot measures that specified the amount of bonds that would be issued in its ballot text were included in this study.
The following chart shows the total amount of potential authorized bonds that were on the ballot in 2018 and how much money was approved versus how much was defeated. Voters approved all of the 14 bond measures.
The fourteen legislatively referred bond issues came from five states: Maine and New Mexico each featured four, Rhode Island featured three, California featured two, and one was on the ballot in New Jersey. Two bond issues each were put on the ballot in both California and Colorado through citizen initiative petitions. The bond issues proposed a total of $29.1 billion in new debt.[2]
| Total amount on 2018 ballot | Approved total amount | Defeated total amount |
|---|---|---|
| $29,110,313,000 | $20,233,313,000 | $13,500,000,000 |
Bond issues were proposed for transportation, education facilities and buses, children hospitals, environment and water infrastructure, public libraries, housing, and senior citizen facilities. The three bond issues that were defeated were citizen initiatives. Two concerned transportation, and one concerned water infrastructure and conservation.
There were 36 ballot measures addressing taxes in 17 states in 2018. Measures related to taxes appeared on the ballot in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
Of the 36 measures, 21 (58 percent) were approved and 15 (42 percent) were defeated. Two measures among the defeated were non-binding advisory questions. One of them, Washington Advisory Vote 19, concerned whether or not to repeal a tax on crude oil, which voters decided to repeal. The other measure, Utah Nonbinding Opinion Question 1, asked voters if they supported a gas tax increase of 10 cents per gallon, which voters rejected. One measure that was approved was a veto referendum: Oregon Measure 101. Measure 101's approval upheld certain assessments/taxes on healthcare insurance and the revenue of certain hospitals to provide funding for Medicaid expansion by approving five sections of House Bill 2391. Of the other 33 measures, 20 were referred to the ballot by state legislatures and 13 were placed on the ballot through citizen-initiated petitions. Of the 20 legislatively referred measures, 17 were approved and four were defeated. Of the 13 citizen-initiated measures, four were approved and nine were defeated.
| Bonds in 2016 | |
| Total bond measures: | 13 |
| Approved: | 12 |
| Defeated: | 1 |
The following are statistics of bond issues that were on the ballot in 2016. Only ballot measures that specified the amount of bonds that would be issued in its ballot text were included in this study.
The following chart shows the total amount of potential authorized bonds that were on the ballot in 2016 and how much money was approved versus how much was defeated. Voters approved 12 of the 13 bond measures.
Bond issues appeared on primary and general election ballots in California, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Rhode Island.
| Total amount on 2016 ballot | Approved total amount | Defeated total amount |
|---|---|---|
| $11,533,659,000 | $11,513,659,000 | $20,000,000 |
There were 27 ballot measures addressing taxes in 14 states in 2016. Measures related to state taxes appeared on the ballot in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
Note: Measures classified as "dedication" measures include lockboxes. A lockbox measure requires that funds raised for or by a certain purpose must be spent in that general area as well. The overall concept of a "lockbox" is to prevent fees and other revenue that is generated through one use from ending up in the state's general operations budget, instead ensuring that those funds are spent in a way related to how they were generated.
| Bonds in 2014 | |
| Total bond measures: | 17 |
| Approved: | 17 |
| Defeated: | 0 |
The following are statistics of bond issues that were on the ballot in 2014. Only ballot measures that specified the amount of bonds that would be issued in its ballot text were included in this study.
The following chart shows the total amount of potential authorized bonds that were on the ballot in 2014 and how much money was approved versus how much was defeated. All 17 bond measures were approved by voters.
Bond issues appeared on primary and general election ballots in California, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island.
| Total amount on 2014 ballot | Approved total amount | Defeated total amount |
|---|---|---|
| $11,454,000,000 | $11,454,000,000 | $0 |
As has been the trend over the past several years, taxes and bond issues turned out to be the two most prevalent issues on 2014 ballots. A total of 19 bond measures appeared in California, Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island. The measures addressing tax issues, of which there were 23, appeared in a total of 14 states: Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
| Tax proposals | Business | Cigarette | Income | Inheritance | Property | Real estate | Sales | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ban | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Break | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Cap | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | - |
| Decrease | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Discount | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Establishment | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - |
| Exemption | - | - | - | - | 5 | - | - | 1 |
| Increase | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | - |
| Renewal | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Other | 1 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | 3 |
| Bonds in 2012 | |
| Total bond measures: | 14 |
| Approved: | 13 |
| Defeated: | 1 |
The following are statistics of bond issues that were on the ballot in 2012. Only ballot measures that specified the amount of bonds that would be issued in its ballot text were included in this study:
The following chart shows the total amount of potential authorized bonds that were on the ballot in 2012, how much money was approved, and how much was defeated.
Bond issues appeared in Alaska, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico and Rhode Island.
| Total amount on 2012 ballot | Approved total amount | Defeated total amount |
|---|---|---|
| $2,370,089,500 | $2,359,089,500 | $11,000,000 |
22 measures dealing with taxes were on the ballot in 2012, not including process for exemption, relating to allocation of certain taxes, tax credits or returns. Only included were measures that specified the implementation of certain state taxes.
| Tax proposals | Business | Cigarette | Income | Inheritance | Property | Real estate | Sales | Approved |
Defeated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ban | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 2 |
| Break | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 |
| Cap | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| Decrease | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 |
| Discount | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| Establishment | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Exemption | - | - | - | - | 7 | - | - | 5 | 2 |
| Increase | - | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | 2[3] | 2[4] | 3[5] |
| Renewal | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Bonds in 2010 | |
| Total bond measures: | 17 |
| Approved: | 15 |
| Defeated: | 2 |
The following are statistics of bond issues that were one the ballot in 2010. Only ballot measures that specified the amount of bonds that would be issued in its ballot text were included in this study:
The following chart shows the total amount of potential authorized bonds that were on the ballot in 2010, how much money was approved and how much was defeated.
| Total amount on ballot | Approved total amount | Defeated amount |
|---|---|---|
| $2,944,740,064 | $2,289,172,240 | $655,567,824 |
22 measures dealing with taxes were on the ballot in 2010, not including process for exemption, relating to allocation of certain taxes, tax credits or returns. Only included were measures that specified the implementation of certain state taxes.
| Bonds in 2008 | |
| Total bond measures: | 16 |
| Approved: | 15 |
| Defeated: | 1 |
The following are statistics of bond issues that were on the ballot in 2008. Only ballot measures that specified the amount of bonds that would be issued in its ballot text were included in this study:
The following chart shows the total amount of potential authorized bonds that were on the ballot in 2008, how much money was approved and how much was defeated.
| Total amount on ballot | Approved total amount | Defeated amount |
|---|---|---|
| $18,591,642,000 | $13,591,642,000 | $5,000,000,000 |
13 measures dealing with taxes were on the ballot in 2008, not including process for exemption, relating to allocation of certain taxes, tax credits or returns. Only included were measures that specified the implementation of certain state taxes.
In odd years from 2009 to 2023, 26 bond issues totaling $1.6 billion were on the ballot. All were approved. There were no bond issues on the statewide ballot in 2023.
There were no bond issues on the statewide ballot in 2023.
Eight tax-related ballot measures were on the ballot in 2023.
Eight bond issues were on the ballot in 2021: seven bond measures totaling $400 million in Rhode Island and one measure totaling $100 million in Maine.
| State | Measure | Primary purpose | Amount | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | Question 1 | Higher education | $107,300,000 | |
| Rhode Island | Question 2 | Water and recreation | $74,000,000 | |
| Rhode Island | Question 3 | Housing | $65,000,000 | |
| Rhode Island | Question 4 | Transportation | $71,700,000 | |
| Rhode Island | Question 5 | Education | $15,000,000 | |
| Rhode Island | Question 6 | Culture and arts | $7,000,000 | |
| Rhode Island | Question 7 | Industrial infrastructure | $60,000,000 | |
| Maine | Question 2 | Transportation infrastructure | $100,000,000 |
Nine tax-related ballot measures were on the ballot in 2021.
One bond issue, Maine Question 1, designed to authorize $105 million in general obligation bonds for transportation infrastructure projects, was on the ballot in 2019. It was approved.
Nineteen tax measures were on the ballot in 2019.
Four bond issues were on the ballot in 2017, totaling $281.6 million. All four were approved.
Eight tax measures were on the ballot in 2017.
Two bond issues in Maine were on the ballot in 2015, totaling $100 million. Both were approved.
Ten tax measures were on the ballot in 2015.
Five bond issues in Maine were on the ballot in 2013 totaling $149.5 million. All were approved.
Ten tax measures were on the ballot in 2013.
Three measures in Texas and one measure in Arkansas to authorize the issuance of bonds were approved.
Four tax measures were on the ballot in 2011.
One bond issue was on the ballot in Maine in 2009. It was approved. It authorized the issuance of $71.25 million in bonds for transportation programs and improvements. One bond issue was approved in New Jersey. It authorized the issuance of $400 million in bonds for open space, farmland, historic areas.
Five tax measures were on the ballot in 2009.
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